Before Sam and Frodo returned to the smial to have dinner with Aunt Lula, they had time to find and briefly question the two lads who had swept up the vault; the Thistlespars were brothers who lived in a bungalow down one of the cross lanes not far from the Scuttle home and, as Leekey had said, worked as day laborers on the local farms and performed other odd jobs. Both had occasionally worked in Mrs. Scuttle's garden. When asked, they admitted that they'd told their mother about that day's work after they'd come home, for she had once been Mrs. Scuttle's cook and took an interest in that lady. They'd spoken to no one else. Mrs. Thistlespar, who was present, added that she'd naturally spread the news about Mrs. Scuttle's expected demise the next day, but she was sure she hadn't said a thing about the vault.
Once they were back at the smial, Frodo also questioned the maid. Glory declared that she'd never spoken of the vault's being opened before her late mistress's death to anybody. The idea that she might be suspected brought tears to her eyes and, since he had no reason to doubt she was speaking the truth, Frodo didn't press her further.
"I don't think any of them had a thing to do with it, Sam," he confided as they headed back to the inn that evening. "Not the maid, the odd-jobs lads, nor their mother. I think we must look toward other possibilities."
"Like what?"
"Mr. Leekey made an interesting suggestion this afternoon. Someone might've seen him unlocking the vault door, or the Thistlespars going in or out. And that brings an even more interesting question to mind, dear Sam. When do you suppose the murder occurred--before or after?"
"You mean, before or after the door was left open?"
"Yes, exactly. Could the woman have already been killed and her murderer was desperately looking for a place to hide her away when he found out about the open vault and took advantage of it? Or did he discover that it was left open, make note of it as a good place to hide a body, then went ahead and killed the woman that night?"
Sam pondered this question for a moment. "It's funny either way," he said at last. "Having a dead body on your hands, then running into just the place to hide it--or else finding the place and having somebody nobody else knows that you want to kill."
Frodo laughed, delighted that Sam had grasped the implications. "It is a curious coincidence," he agreed. "Now I wonder who might've been in the vicinity-"
The sun had set before they'd left the Scuttle smial and dusk was deepening into night. Shadows lay long in the lane between its tall hedgerows, and neither Frodo nor Sam noticed the other couple coming in the opposite direction until they nearly ran into each other. Both pairs stopped abruptly a few feet apart and begged each others' pardon in a muddle of mumbling undertones before a male voice spoke up clearly.
"Why, it's Mr. Baggins, isn't it?"
Though there was little light to see by, Frodo recognized the voice as belonging to Silvanus Woodbine, the owner of a prosperous farm outside Gamwich. Silvanus's female companion must therefore be Pendira Applegrove; the two had been courting when he'd seen them last.
"It is Frodo Baggins," he acknowledged, then offered them cool courtesy and a rather stiff bow. "How do you do, Miss Applegrove, Mr. Woodbine."
"Not Applegrove any longer, Mr. Baggins," Pendira corrected him. "Silvanus and I were married soon after your last visit to our town."
"We thought you'd be coming to visit us again once this dead woman turned up," her husband added. "Dondo Punbry told me that Chief Gamgee was writing to you about it." He bowed his head briefly and politely to Sam, who returned the gesture.
"I see Shirriff Punbry still keeps you well-informed," replied Frodo. "I don't suppose either of you knows anything about the dead woman?"
"No," said Silvanus. "Why should we?"
Frodo might have answered, "People who've gotten away with one murder might feel confident enough to try another," but he refrained. He had no proof that they were involved. Beyond their previous actions, his one suspicion of them lay in the fact that the Applegrove farm, Pendira's family home, was up the same lane beyond the burial vault; he assumed that was where they were heading now. The southern end of the orchard bordered on the communal burial grounds; either of these two or Pendira's brother or sister might easily have observed that the vault was unlocked for that crucial night from their own property. It also seemed to Frodo that this murder was not a matter of happenstance, but had been well thought-out. Pendira was one of the cleverest women he knew, more than capable of planning a murder.
Pendira was certainly clever enough to understand his suspicion, for she said, "I admit you've got reasons to doubt our word, Mr. Baggins, but I promise it's nothing to do with us. We didn't know about it `til after old Mrs. Scuttle's funeral."
"And you know of no women of middle years who went missing about ten days ago?"
"No."
"Dondo asked us, but all the women we know are accounted for," Silvanus added. "She must be a stranger from somewhere beyond the town."
Frodo wasn't entirely certain that the couple was speaking the truth, but on this point, he had to agree. "All the same, it's very odd she should come here to die."
"What a strange way of putting it, Mr. Baggins!" said Pendira. "Whatever brought her here, it couldn't've been her own death. That must've come as surprise."
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